How He Went From Homeless To Making $60M/Yr | Alex Vela E516

Summary

The Rich Somers Report: "How He Went From Homeless To Making $60M/Yr | Alex Vela E516"

Date: June 13, 2026
Host: Rich Somers
Guest: Alejandro Barbas ("El Barbas")
Episode Theme: From Homelessness to Phenomenal Entrepreneurial Success

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Episode Overview

This episode delivers an electrifying and motivating conversation with Alejandro Barbas, a 26-year-old entrepreneur who went from living in his car and hustling on the streets to running a $60 million/year hat business. Rich and Alejandro dig deep into Alejandro's turbulent backstory, explore the learning curves of failed businesses, celebrate his rapid rise in the headwear industry, and unpack his dynamic marketing strategy leveraging social media, high-profile collaborations, and product drops. The episode is equal parts real, raw, and relentlessly inspiring.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Alejandro’s Background & Early Hustles

• Series of Failures Before Success
  Alejandro started eight businesses before striking gold with his hat brand. He candidly shares how each failed attempt shaped his journey—and how perseverance trumped discouragement.
  "At some point, I feel that at some point every single stuff that I used to touch, I converted into shit...and now every single thing I make...I convert everything into gold. But I had to pass through all these situations where everything was bad." — Alejandro [00:37, 56:23]

• Types of Businesses Tried

  • Restaurant specializing in chicken/carne asada & bar (failed, barely broke even) [11:13–12:29]
  • Marinade sauce company—sold in 300 Mexican/Hispanic markets, but went heavily into debt [12:29–13:41]
  • Clothing brand inspired by Gymshark—insufficient market demand in Mexico at the time [13:44–14:17]
  • Tow truck company (in San Jose, CA), profitable but soul-crushing work [14:43–17:58]
  • Street food sales out of necessity, due to lack of papers and other opportunities (cash only) [18:18–19:49]
  • Auto parts reselling [20:33–20:46]
  • Homeless phase: Living out of a $1,500 Nissan Sentra, gym showers, selling food on the street [21:05–24:18]

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Transition to the Hat Business

The Spark

• Initial Rationale: Hats are “one size fits all,” making inventory simpler than other fashion (no sizing headaches) [26:21–27:28].
• First Steps: Started with custom embroidered hats, selling at swap meets for $35 apiece. First weekend: $300–400, quickly scaling up to $9,000 on event weekends [30:23–34:36].

Quote:
"When you are in that situation [homeless], every single day feels like an eternity..." — Alejandro [23:17]
"I have a random idea on the restroom and I make it work. Everything I convert, I convert everything now into a gold." — Alejandro [00:37, 56:23]

Swap Meet Strategy to Social Media Domination

• Swap Meet Realization: Success plateaued; needed a way to scale beyond local reach.
• Pivot to Content: Started filming TikToks and building Instagram, realizing digital reach is limitless. Within two months: 30–40k TikTok followers [37:16].

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Social Media & Drop Strategy

TikTok as Product Laboratory

• Product Design Testing:
  Alejandro’s team develops samples, films short videos (10 seconds) with new hats, and watches engagement metrics before committing to mass production [41:22–43:01].
  "I made that first before I order the hats. So I see the reactions." — Alejandro [41:42]

• Metrics Used for Go/No-Go:

  • Bad designs: ~80k views
  • Successful, "banger" designs: 1+ million, sometimes 10+ million views [44:22–44:51]

• Demographics:
  Fans range from kids to retirees, thanks to TikTok's viral reach [45:24–46:07].

Quote:
"Younger generation is more into the Lamborghini thing...older generation, more like the Ferrari." — Rich [08:08]

Viral Drops, Celebrity Collabs, & Scarcity

• Exclusive Drops:

  • Numbered hats (e.g., 1–1,000) sold for $500+; first attempt failed at $160, but after Mexican artist Natanael Cano wore one, resale price hit $1,500 [49:04–50:38].
  • $4 million in 25 minutes during a Natanael Cano collab drop [51:09–51:32]

• Game-changing Live Drops:

  • $1.3 million in 3 minutes during a Twitch/Kick live stream, which crashed the site [66:23–69:41]
  • Marketing leading up: massive social media content, giveaways (G-Wagons, trips, gold/diamond hats, motocross bike), lifestyle storytelling [70:57–74:41]

• Not Just Hats, It’s Lifestyle:
  "I don’t sell hats, I sell lifestyle. I sell my story." — Alejandro [51:53]

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Lessons on Failure, Mindset, and Scaling

• Embracing Failure and Persistence:
  "All the failures where you got knocked down...all part of the journey. It had to happen in order for you to get to where you are." — Rich [57:30] "You have to pass through all these bad moments to appreciate and keep your mind where it has to be." — Alejandro [57:47]

• Giving Back:
  Alejandro stays grounded by giving away money and helping others, emphasizing gratitude for his rapid ascent [55:01–55:46]

• Advice for the Discouraged:
  "If you are thinking to give up right now, man...don’t give up because maybe you are closer than you think." — Alejandro [59:10] "Happiness stems from growth and progress. Nothing good in life comes easy." — Rich [59:47]

• Vision for the Future:

  • Expanding beyond the Spanish-speaking market (first English-language interview)
  • New collaborations outside of music—possibly with athletes
  • More intricate drops, IRL events (ComplexCon in Vegas), and possibly entering the yacht/luxury networking scene [61:57–66:10]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On his negative-to-positive transformation:
  "At some point, I feel that every single thing I used to touch, I converted into shit...now every single thing I make, I convert into gold...But I had to pass through all these situations where everything was bad." — Alejandro [00:37 & 56:23]

• On entrepreneurship:
  "School is like...it teaches you to not make mistakes. But entrepreneurship is the opposite. We’re failing every day, but then we learn from them and eventually we figure out the right recipe." — Rich [10:27]

• On marketing and scarcity:
  "The same hat that I didn’t sell…a Mexican artist wore it on stage…I sold the rest for $500 each, now they resell for $1,500." — Alejandro [49:44–50:28]

• On his rapid ascent:
  "It feels like a movie...I used to live on a very bad situation in Mexico, and then here, and now living the life…it’s like a movie." — Alejandro [54:15–55:03]

• On growth mindset:
  "Right now, I have the momentum. I will keep learning. Things will happen and I’ll take the best of them and keep going." — Alejandro [60:36]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Time | |-------------------------------------------------------|----------------| | Alejandro’s early business failures & persistence | 00:37–21:01 | | Life on the streets/homeless in San Diego | 21:05–24:18 | | Embarking on the hat hustle at swap meets | 26:21–34:36 | | Moving to TikTok: social-first product strategy | 37:16–45:10 | | How to test hat designs using TikTok feedback | 41:22–44:51 | | Scarcity marketing & artist collabs (Natanael Cano) | 48:52–51:38 | | Live-streamed $1.3MM drop (Twitch/Kick) | 66:23–69:41 | | Discussion of giveaway promo and product authentication| 70:59–74:41 | | Reflections, philanthropy, and mindset lessons | 54:15–61:22 | | Looking ahead: next markets, big collabs | 61:57–66:10 |

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Additional Highlights

• Material Rewards as Branding:
  Alejandro owns 10+ exotic cars, a $3 million Richard Mille watch, and uses them in social content as both lifestyle statement and marketing tool [75:03–77:40].

• Team:
  His core leadership team is tight—a group of seven or eight, including his brother ("the most important piece"), who handles design and doubles as a balancing force [38:14–41:08].

• Website:
  www.elbarbashats.com [46:25]

• Philanthropy:
  Regularly gives away cash to those in need as a way of expressing gratitude for his current success [55:01–55:49].

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For Anyone Who Hasn't Listened...

Alejandro Barbas’ journey—from border hustler, to swap meet vendor, to viral e-commerce sensation—offers a playbook for resilience, hyper-experimentation, and modern marketing. His story is a powerful reminder that struggle breeds ingenuity, and that digital platforms—used creatively and relentlessly—can rocket a business from local grind to global heights.

If you're feeling stagnant, Alejandro's transformation will convince you: your lowest lows may be the very footing for your wildest success.

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Follow Alejandro:

• Insta: @soy_elbarbashats (personal), @elbarbashatsofficial (brand)
• Website: www.elbarbashats.com

Host: Rich Somers

• Insta: @rich_somers

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“Don’t give up, because maybe you are closer than you think.” — Alejandro Barbas [59:10]

Transcript

[Rich Summers]

Hey, guys.

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[Alejandro Barbas]

I feel that at some point, every single stuff that I used to touch, I converted into shit. Like if. If I was trying to make a business, not like, no working. If I was trying to help on something, someone not working, every single thing that I used to touch, convert it into nothing. And now every single thing that I make, every single business, I have a random idea on the restroom and I make it works. Everything I convert, I convert everything now into a gold. But the thing is that I have to pass through all these situations where everything was bad.

[Rich Summers]

All right, guys, welcome to another episode of the Report. Today I got an inspiring story for you guys. I got someone who is only 26 years old, has started eight businesses which all failed before he started this one. And he's turned $350 into a 60 million a year business. I got my man Alejandro, also known as Barbas in the building. What's up, Alejandro?

[Alejandro Barbas]

How are we, man? I appreciate so much the opportunity of having me on on your space. Honestly, this is the first really like the first time that I ever make like a podcast on like speaking in

[Rich Summers]

English because, yeah, us based.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, it's crazy. I'm really happy to be here and thank you so much.

[Rich Summers]

It's an honor to have you on, dude. I'm very excited for this, this story. It's a very inspiring story. A big shout out to my man Oscar who's been shooting this podcast and he, macho's actually miked up for the first time on this episode, but he's been shooting with me since day one of this podcast and this is Oscar's boy brought him on. So thank you for the connection, my man. Real quick, before we get rolling, we're talking about nice cars, the founder of Fast Lane, Drive. My man Clem Connor, who's been on this podcast twice. I was hanging out with him yesterday out of Michigan on his boat and ironically you ran into him yesterday.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

In your Lamborghini Revolt.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. And he asked me like, oh, are those your cars? And I was like, yeah. And you know what's crazy, even like crazier is that one year ago I hit him up on the fast lane chat on Instagram trying to join the club. And he like, they say yes because the first like cool car that I bought, it was the Urus. And I tell them like, oh, I have a Urus and whatever. And they say yes. But you know the time that time it was. Yeah, exactly. Life got busy, so. But it was pretty funny that yesterday.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, dude, you should join because it's the. I always say there's, there's this game is about being in the right room, so who you surround yourself with. But a lot of high level entrepreneurs and business owners in this community. I had Clem on the podcast two years ago and I joined right after the episode. But they do a lot of really cool rallies with a lot of nice cars and then they always have a nice party. But you should join September. The next one is in later in September. I believe it's on the 18th. I'll be there. It's Clem's birthday. But they're, they, they rented a rule number one, 130 foot yacht. So we're gonna do, they're gonna do a rally here in San Diego and then a yacht party on this 130 foot yacht. It's going to be sick. But you should get a part, get in it and be a part of it. Speaking of cars, bro, speaking of cars, how many cars do you have right now?

[Alejandro Barbas]

I have, I think it's like 10 cars. Right? Like I have.

[Rich Summers]

Can you name those 10 cars?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, I have. So right now I'm going to start

[Rich Summers]

from the 10 cars.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, from the oldest one that I have.

[Rich Summers]

Okay.

[Alejandro Barbas]

I have a Ferrari F8 Tributa. And then I have Eurus Lamborghini Urus that. Well, actually I bought the first one that I bought. It was white. And this one is a Performante, a yellow Performante. I got the newest one that, the 20.

[Rich Summers]

Those are the nicest ones.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, 2024 I think.

[Rich Summers]

Okay.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Because the 2025, the 2025 is the SV or SE, something like that, the electric, the hybrid one. But no, I have the Performante 2024. I have the Euros, I have the, the Purosangre. Puro Sangre. The Ferrari, the SUV. I have the. So there is three. The Porsche GT3 RS, the Lamborghini Roto.

[Rich Summers]

By the way, that's like Batman. Car looks so sick. Yeah, it's all black. Which. Which color is yours?

[Alejandro Barbas]

It's like a midnight blue. I. I never seen a color like that one. Yeah, this is pretty nice. It's like a matte mad Mina blue. And then I have the SF90, the Ferrari SF90, huh? Oh, the. The Challenger Demon. I still have the Mustang Super. The Shelby Super Snake or Raptor R. That one is my dad's truck. I gift him.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, you got the SF90. What other Ferraris you have? You got the SUV in there?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, the SUV. Oh, well, I. I just bought two cars more.

[Rich Summers]

Okay, which ones?

[Alejandro Barbas]

I just bought them. McLaren Sena. There is only that.

[Rich Summers]

I've never heard of that one.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, those ones. There is only 500 units, really? In the world.

[Rich Summers]

Damn.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

And so this is because you got the. You got the 750s, and then you got the 650 LT.

[Alejandro Barbas]

The Sena is like.

[Rich Summers]

I'm sorry, 750 LT.

[Alejandro Barbas]

I think they use the platform from the SE. The 7, the 720.

[Rich Summers]

Okay.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Like, the spec is, like, pretty, like, similar.

[Rich Summers]

Got it, got it.

[Alejandro Barbas]

But when you look at the back and you see, like, way different color.

[Rich Summers]

What is. What does that one cost?

[Alejandro Barbas]

1.3 million. Because the one that I got is. There is only three matte black. From the manufacturer. The color is. Is like, from the manufacturer.

[Rich Summers]

Is that. Is that the most you spent on a car?

[Alejandro Barbas]

No, no.

[Rich Summers]

What's. What's the most you spent on a car?

[Alejandro Barbas]

The. The. The other one that I bought that I just bought is a Lamborghini SVJ. The 63 years edition. Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

How much does that cost?

[Alejandro Barbas]

1.5.

[Rich Summers]

Damn.

[Alejandro Barbas]

With the. With taxes and everything.

[Rich Summers]

And they only made so many of those.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Oh, I don't know. But There is only 63.

[Rich Summers]

Damn.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. And it's pretty. Oh, the color is nice. It's a gray. Matte gray with orange.

[Rich Summers]

Which one's your favorite one to drive?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Right now I feel like the Urus is, like, the one. Yeah. The most comfortable.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah. For, like, daily driving. I get that. Now. What about which one's the most fun, like, supercar to drive if you want to go fast.

[Alejandro Barbas]

I want to be honest. I want to be honest. I did. I didn't even try the Senna and the Lamborghini. You haven't drove it? No, I just wanted, like. Yeah, I saw them. I saw them.

[Rich Summers]

Are you Serious?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, I saw them in pictures and I'm like, yeah, I want them.

[Rich Summers]

Damn.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

But. And so someone just delivered it to your house and just sits?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, they just. Basically they just got them yesterday. They got them and they're going to just send them to the dealer just to make sure that everything is fine. And they're going to deliver it to my house on this Saturday.

[Rich Summers]

Okay, but once they deliver it, you'll drive it.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

Okay. Okay. That's pretty good, man. That's, that's how, that's, that's how you know, you're, you've made it to a certain level where you can just order a new car, High end car, an exotic car. You don't even need to test drive it or sit in it. You're like, it. Let's, let's get it, let's run it. Yeah, I get it though, dude. I get it, man. That's. That's exciting stuff, dude. And, and I love the car game. One more question for you. I'm curious which car, when you drive gets the most attention from people on the street with their cell phones and, and, and turns the most heads.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, I feel the rewardo.

[Rich Summers]

Okay.

[Alejandro Barbas]

It's like very like, you know, like people is. They see it and then instantly they take their, their cell phones and start recording.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, yeah.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Or the SF92. Yeah. Or the GT3RS. But I think that I feel is rew is the most one.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, I feel, I feel like the younger generation is more into like the Lamborghini thing and the revolt looks so unique. Like I said, it looks like a Batmobile. And then the older generation, would you say more like the Ferrari? It's older.

[Alejandro Barbas]

100%. Yeah, 100%. When I go, I don't know, somewhere in the, in the Ferrari, older people is like, nice car, you know, like.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah.

[Alejandro Barbas]

And I'm like, sir.

[Rich Summers]

So, so brother, you, you started eight businesses prior to this and you mentioned that all eight businesses failed prior to this. Dude, talk about that, bro. How do you, how do you start eight businesses and then keep going and keep going and keep going and keep going, talk about those businesses.

[Alejandro Barbas]

I think something that is key for my story is that I always been a seller. I always like wanted to make something where my sales strategies were the most important stuff. So every single business, obviously, like, I always wanted to be like, come on, you say yeah, entrepreneur, you know, like always, always. That. That was since the day one. I didn't make it to the high school, so I just have like the.

[Rich Summers]

You didn't graduate high school.

[Alejandro Barbas]

No, I graduated high school, but I, I, that's only what I. Yeah. Made, basically.

[Rich Summers]

Did you, did you not like school?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Not really.

[Rich Summers]

I, I didn't like school either.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. No, no, not really.

[Rich Summers]

Most. It's funny how that works. But most, most of my podcast guests, business owners, real estate investors doing big numbers. Most of them, they didn't, they didn't like school either. I mean, look at, you know, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Cuban, Mark Zuckerberg. A lot of these guys dropped out. They dropped out of school. You know what I mean?

[Alejandro Barbas]

I feel school is like, I mean, you want to be, like, a doctor, lawyer, you know, things where you need basically someone to teach you, like, the history of everything. And, like, going for levels of knowledge or, I mean, like, that's cool. But when it's about entrepreneurship, it's always like, for, like, for in my experience is like, failing, going up, going down again, going more up, like, you know, like another level and then going more down. Like, I mean, like, that's the journey.

[Rich Summers]

And you could argue school, the school system and education. In college, they teach you how to memorize things, and they teach you how to not make any mistakes, right? Because if you, if you fail on a test, it's like a bad thing. You're making a mistake, it's a bad thing. And so I think people are conditioned to not take any risk. They're conditioned never to make any mistake. They're scared to take mistakes and make mistakes in the real world. But entrepreneurship is the opposite. Entrepreneurship is like you're. We're failing every single day. We're making mistakes, but then we learn from them when we get better. But because we're trying so many different things and we're learning so quickly from all of these mistakes, eventually we, we figure out the right recipe. And eventually you will figure it out if you keep going and you got a little bit of wherewithal. But, you know, speaking of keeping going, eight businesses, do you. What were the. What were the eight businesses?

[Alejandro Barbas]

So I used to have a restaurant. Okay, the first. The. Really?

[Rich Summers]

Restaurant's tough. No, that's a tough business to get into, bro, because there's a reason why the banks. The banks will lend on any type of business. They love real estate. They love lending on other types of businesses. But with the restaurant industry, a lot of banks won't even lend on the, on the restaurants because it's too risky for them.

[Alejandro Barbas]

No. No success rates. So trust me. So my dad and my mom, they used to have A. They even were like restaurants. They were like a little. Como puestos. Like. Yeah, like little stands of roaster. Yeah, yeah, they used to.

[Rich Summers]

That's pretty.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Used to do that. So I learned that. And then when I. When I was older. When I was older, I'm saying, like, I was like 16. I tried to make like a restaurant of like, chicken and, And. And carne asada. Yeah, carne asada. And I made like a mitology bar on it. You know, Like, I tried. I try, I try. But at some point, I was selling every single day, just 300 pesos. That means like 15 bucks. Yeah, like 15 bucks.

[Rich Summers]

That's how much you were selling every day. And how much would it cost you to do all that? Like, way more than that.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, like, no, it wasn't make sense. And I was having to throw away the food, and I was like, no, no, no, this is not working. So that was one my. My very first one. My very first try. I made a sauce, like marinade sauce. I was. Yeah, I was like 16 when I started. I started at high school. That's something that I want to be always grateful with my teachers because they saw that I was doing different stuff and they allow me to do it instead of the classes. The classes I used to have my. A marketing teacher, and always on the class, they. She allowed me to. To work on my stuff. So the very first one, the very first try that I made, it was the sauce. I made the sauce in Mexico, and I get the FDA everything, all the permits, everything. So I got the sauce from Mexico and I sell them here in, like, around 300 different Mexican or Hispanic markets. So that's a very.

[Rich Summers]

That's impressive that you got in the 300 markets, man.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

And so. And then what was, what was the next one after that?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Oh, I had. I. I had a clothing brand, like a sportswear.

[Rich Summers]

Okay, so this isn't the first time getting into the. The.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, yeah. Because. So when I came here, I. I knew I wasn't in this shape. I. I was in a good shape. But when I arrived here to us, I knew about gymshark.

[Rich Summers]

Okay.

[Alejandro Barbas]

And then I try to not replicate, because it's. This is not. It's not that, but I tried to make like, kind of the concept in Mexico. But in Mexico at that time, nobody likes to fit. No, nobody likes.

[Rich Summers]

No, no.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. No. So right now is very Chinese. Gymshark is top brands in Mexico. But at that time, I'm talking about, like almost 10 years ago, right? Like eight or seven years ago. And then I tried that and it fails. No, didn't work. And then. So we have the. Then I made. Oh, I. I had a tow truck.

[Rich Summers]

Tow truck company.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. They are very different. I don't know why, but they are very different between each other. The businesses that. I made a tow truck company. I had two tow trucks. Okay. Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

Here in the states.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

San Diego.

[Alejandro Barbas]

No, in San Jose.

[Rich Summers]

San Jose. Okay.

[Alejandro Barbas]

The north California.

[Rich Summers]

And that's a pretty good industry to get into.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Oh, yeah. No, there's a lot of money.

[Rich Summers]

So you bought a couple tow trucks.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

And. And. And how come that business failed?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Basically, that wasn't my. My business because I always wanted to. I always was. Since. Since the beginning. I always wanted to do, like, social media, like, you know, to. And in that business, I used to drive the tow.

[Rich Summers]

Oh, you would drive it, too. Yeah. Which.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yes, it wasn't okay, because, like, you're.

[Rich Summers]

You're dealing with people that are pissed off, right?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, yeah.

[Rich Summers]

And people. People want to get out there.

[Alejandro Barbas]

No, no, no, no, no. It was bad. It was bad. But people.

[Rich Summers]

People will pull out guns.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. No, no.

[Rich Summers]

It was the craziest thing you saw in the tow truck business.

[Alejandro Barbas]

So one day they, like, they asked me how much for a trip, right? And I was like, oh, it's going to be 300 bucks. And then he said that it was okay. When we arrived, I left the car on his house, and then he told me how much, and I was like, 300 bucks the same. No worries. Is the same. And he's like, what, 100 bucks? You crazy? You. You tried to rob me. You want to solve me? And then he. He didn't pay. And I. I was like, okay, no worries. I'm just gonna pay for you. It's fine. But, yeah, that was. Oh. And he was like, punch me. Punch me in my face. That's the only thing that you need to do it. Apart from assault me. And then, no, he. I don't know, he got. He goes crazy. I don't know why.

[Rich Summers]

Damn. Were you. Were you repossessing cars when people didn't make their car payments, too? No, no, no. But telling people. People like business owners calling me like, hey, this guy's illegally parked. Stuff like that.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And no, I never. I never had someone, like, running following me.

[Rich Summers]

Now, what. Was it making money, though?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

Was it profitable?

[Alejandro Barbas]

So look, I got the tow truck because when I made the. The sauce business, the. The. The. The marinade, I got into so many deltas. Yeah. I got in debt for like 50, 60K. So I made the tow truck because I started working for somebody and then I saw that he used to have a tow truck, like just parked there, right. And I told him, like, look, I'm going to try for you for like maybe two weeks. And you see that I'm going to learn fast because I, I really learned fast, like English. I. I have two years that I start speaking.

[Rich Summers]

You've only speaking it for two years.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

You sound good, bro.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Thank you.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah.

[Alejandro Barbas]

But yeah, I like, I like, you know, I like to. When I have to learn, I do it. So I learn about the tow truck business. And then I told him, like, hey, just give me the, the truck and just let me use your. Allow me to use your permit and I'll make money for you and I'll make money for me. And he gave me the opportunity. So I, I really earned. I earned like 40, 50. So I pay my debt and you

[Rich Summers]

paid the debt back.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Okay. And then I went back to Mexico with no debt.

[Rich Summers]

I got us. So you got back to zero. Okay. And so that's. I believe that's the fifth one.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

Right. And then you had the restaurant, you had the salt, the. The salsa company, you had the, the tow truck business.

[Alejandro Barbas]

There was one clothing brand.

[Rich Summers]

Oh, the clothing brand. So that's four. What. What was the next one?

[Alejandro Barbas]

I used to sell food in the streets. Yeah. When I, that's when I arrived here to get to the US for the third time. Because I, I like, like a, like

[Rich Summers]

a stand on the side of the street. Like a.

[Alejandro Barbas]

No, on the, on the street. Literally. Like, I went to the crickets, the Metro PCs, the mechanics, dealers. That's what I'm. That, that's what I always tell my people. Because there is a lot of people that say no, but there is no opportunities. There is no jobs there, bro. I wasn't able to work because I didn't used to have paper. So I wasn't like, you know, all the fake wrinkles or whatever. I never get nothing of it. Right. So I used to like thinking, like, how I'm going to make money. I need to, I need to eat. Right? So I started selling fun on the streets.

[Rich Summers]

Cash only.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Cash only.

[Rich Summers]

So. So hustling, bro. Yeah. There's always a way to make it happen. But also I think, like, the people that say, hey, like, it's, it's tough. There's no opportunity out there today. It's like, there's actually a lot of opportunity out there. It's Just shifting your mindset. Like, I believe there's. There's a lot of money out there in this world. You. You just gotta go figure out how to get it, you know? And I. I think there's enough money to go around where everyone can win. And so I think being in the right rooms is big. Getting around people that are, that are making money is big because they make you realize, they open your eyes to realize, like, hey, like there is a lot of opportunity out there. It's just. You gotta shift your perspective and also,

[Alejandro Barbas]

also put the ego on apart because like right now I'm proud of saying that I used to be on the streets trying to get something to eat, right? That I. I used to be, you know, homeless, I'm proud to say all those stuff. But the thing is that at that moment, brother, you feel. You feel like nothing. You feel like you are under the floor, you know, like you are not in the floor, you are under the floor. So it's not that easy. I know, but it is possible to do all this stuff and, and cosmetic and keep. Keep pushing and one day get, you know, the results. Yeah. Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

So that was five businesses. What did you do next after that?

[Alejandro Barbas]

I used to be a reseller. Reseller of auto parts. I used to be like a reseller. That's what I made for four to six months. Yeah. Like reselling different articles.

[Rich Summers]

And then what was, what was the last one you did leading up to this? This right before this company. I want to know what was the last one you did before this company that you have now?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Oh, yeah, the. The food.

[Rich Summers]

That was the food one.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Selling. I have food on the, on the streets.

[Rich Summers]

Got it down.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. Sending food on the street.

[Rich Summers]

And is that the time when you were homeless, living in a car?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, yeah.

[Rich Summers]

Talk about that. So you were, you were homeless.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

And living in the, in the parking lot of a dollar tree.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. So basically. Basically when you come here, I feel like us, there is just only two ways of living. For me, for me. I'm not saying that it is waiting right. For me. You are rich as fuck or you are homeless. So in my case, when I arrive here, it's very kind of funny because in Mexico every single parent or no, every single. Yeah, like guy in your family gives you like food or. Ben, mijo. Come, mijo. You don't have where to live. Come, mijo, I'm gonna open a room for you or whatever. But here is different. And I used. I mean like, I have like family here too. Right. But the interest of Each is very different. Like, you know, like they have to work a shift of 9 to 10 to 12 hours per day so they, they cannot be worried about someone, someone else or another mouth to feed. Right. So when I arrived here, I was like, with no one, no help. So. No, no, no. So I bought a car, a fifteen hundred dollars car. Nissan Sentra. Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

So I used to sell Nissan.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

When I was younger I used to work at a Nissan dealership here and I used to sell. But the center or the Versa.

[Alejandro Barbas]

The Centra essential Nissan is the best

[Rich Summers]

Nissan will run for, for decades. I don't even think you need to do an oil change.

[Alejandro Barbas]

No, I never made an oil change for that car. Yeah. So I bought that car and then I was with my brother and I used to go, go to shower, to the gyms, to. I got a membership. So I was for, I was doing that, I was doing like doing it like that for like three, four months. I mean it wasn't that long. Right. But when you are in that situation, it's every single day feels like it's an eternity. Right.

[Rich Summers]

Time goes slow.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. So yeah, it was, it was kind of like, kind of like tough, like hard to be in that situation.

[Rich Summers]

How did you spend your time if time goes slow, living in the car, you're showering at the gym. How did you spend all your time?

[Alejandro Barbas]

So basically when I arrived here, I got the, I got a lady, she helped me. Now it's part of my, on my family and she is a lady and his husband and we used to go there to make food. So we prepared the food since like early in the morning and we went there, we prepared the food, everything on Yalera, on a, on a cooler. We put the, the mashed potato with, with meat and everything in the cooler and we made everything and we just went out to sell and we didn't came. We, we like, we need to sell everything before we came back. Right. So maybe we spent almost all day long.

[Rich Summers]

Damn.

[Alejandro Barbas]

But the first day that I made that, I earned like a thousand dollars.

[Rich Summers]

That's right.

[Alejandro Barbas]

And I, I didn't stop living on the car. Basically. I, I was like, I'm not going to stop it until I get 10, 20K. I don't, you know, I don't mind that. It's okay. So I used to make that and, and eventually it happens. I get money and I get like a place to stay with my brother. And that's when I was like, okay, I'm not gonna do it this for my whole life. Right. I Need to figure out what else, what else I can do that really get me into next level or another position.

[Rich Summers]

Right, sure. Yeah. That was like, that was not the vehicle that was gonna get you your dream life.

[Alejandro Barbas]

No, no, definitely.

[Rich Summers]

And so I just want to, like, give perspective for the listeners. Like, just a quick snapshot of today. I mean, you do $60 million as top line. You did. You had multiple drops that are doing big numbers. We're talking 7 million, 10 million. Making 1.3 million in three minutes. I'm going to get into all this stuff. But, but before that, I just, I'm curious. You're living in the car at this time, Three months, four months time, and then you're like, okay, I need to come up with a different idea. That's, that's going to be the big one. How did you come up with this idea with, with the hat game?

[Alejandro Barbas]

So it, it was kind of funny, right? Because in Mexico, before I leave Mexico, and I like, give up with. I never give up with the clothing brand. I, I still have the brand and I still pay for the name and everything. But when I was like, you know what, I'm gonna put this on a standby to go to us, I was thinking on a, on a head brand, because I was like, it's an accessory. There is no sizes because it's a nutbag. You know, there is no sizes. Like, it's easy, easier to, to sell.

[Rich Summers]

Oh, because one size fit all, fits all.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

So you could buy a bunch of them and everyone can wear them.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Exactly.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah.

[Alejandro Barbas]

So I could snapback or it's a, A snapback. Yeah, the snapback. I create this. The logo. That's the first, the first logo. Yeah, that's the first thing that I made before I came here to us. So that was already in my mind. Right.

[Rich Summers]

Is that, is that an, is that a known thing with the hat game that out of all the accessories in fashion, the hat game is, is the easiest to scale because it's one size fit all.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, yeah, it's. So it's an accessory, right?

[Rich Summers]

Yeah.

[Alejandro Barbas]

So I was like the clothing brand, medium large, extra large, double extra large, triple extra large. Right. So it's a lot of, oh, I need to invest on a drop, but I'm going to invest this amount. But you're not going to get like all of them sell because it's. This is hard to sell all the sizes. Right. Or you're going to sell first the medium or the larger. In a hat game. The hat game is just like one size fits All.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, I've never thought of it that way, man. And it makes sense. I mean even, even the shoes, you got so many different sizes, shirts, hoodies, buttons up, button ups, even like selling belts. There's different size belts. Right. So I never thought about it that way, but it makes a lot of sense.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. And also if you see, if you go to a street, every, I don't know, five to ten different men's, you see almost 80 of them using hats.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, I wear a hat every day.

[Alejandro Barbas]

You're wearing a hat, right? So yeah, for my business is like every single man that use, that wears a hat is a possible client for me.

[Rich Summers]

You know why I wear a hat? It's because I don't have to think about doing my hair.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

I don't have to like wake up and do my hair, man. That takes time.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

I don't think, I just throw a hat on.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Exactly.

[Rich Summers]

And when you do, when you like do your hair, like put product in there, it's like. It's not just that, but then like at the end of the day and night when you go to bed, like you got to shower that shit out of your hair. That takes time. So that's why I just, I just throw a hat on. It's easy, it's quick. I save all that time every single day, every single night.

[Alejandro Barbas]

And also we put like a lot of effort on the designs so they look, they looks good, right. So now you have something that is going to make easier. You're like, you, you just wake up, you just get a hat. Right. But you can combine it with your outfit.

[Rich Summers]

I wear, I wear hats so much that like people think I'm bald. I'm like, I got a full head of hair. I just, I just, I like the hat game because it's easy. But, but do people do ask me that sometimes?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, yeah, it's the same for me. But yeah. So well, coming back to the, to the question that you asked. So basically I used to have already on my mind the logo and idea, right. So when I remember I was with my brother and then I told him, like, man, what are we going to do? Is this is not going to last forever because we discover that we were selling food to the same people and then sometimes they were like, no, I don't want it the same. Right. Like, I don't want to eat the same anymore. So I told him, like, it's not going to last forever. And we used to like change the food and I don't know, like we used to make corn pie or, you know, different stuff. So anyways, I told him, like, you know what? I always use hats. You know, like, what if we. We made like a design with these or I don't know, like, and we just go to the swap meets and we sell them in there. Like, because we started. We went to the swami and at different times, because we used to like to go and see if there is something. Because I'm a seller, you know, if there was something that I could like sell, resell for more on, I don't know, ebay or whatever. I was starting to know about how the Internet works.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Because honestly, in Mexico at that time is in Mexico, we are not that tech savvy. Yeah, no, yeah, honestly. So I started like knowing like learning about drop shipping and a lot of things. Right. So I was trying to get into that market, but before I get into that, I basically start doing the samples for hats. I didn't start like with the hats that I have right now. I started with hats where you go just go blanks. You just go to a shop where they sell blanks and you take those hats and take it to a embroidery shop. And I started like that.

[Rich Summers]

And you just go to swap me to sell it.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, yeah.

[Rich Summers]

How much back then, how much would the hat cost you all in buying it, the embroidery and then how much would you sell it for?

[Alejandro Barbas]

You know that it was expensive because it's almost the same price that I pay right now. But at that time they had was like pretty simple, like, like no details, no metallic pins, no nothing, basically. But I used to pay like 8, 18 or 19.

[Rich Summers]

And how much would you sell it for at the swap meet?

[Alejandro Barbas]

I used to sell them for 35.

[Rich Summers]

35. Okay. So you make about just under 50% off of it. Yeah, that's not bad. And so how did it go with the swap meet? Where were they? 6. Was it successful at first?

[Alejandro Barbas]

That's where everything started, really. Because the first day that I went to the. The first day that I went to the swap meet, I sold like 300.

[Rich Summers]

300 hats in one day?

[Alejandro Barbas]

No, 300 bucks.

[Rich Summers]

300 bucks?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. So it was not that good, right? I was like, I don't know. I was making more with the food. But the good thing is that I took food to the stand. So I sold food to the guys in the swap meet. I never seen a thing about it until I was in the swaming and I was like, that's that the same day I. I bring food and I bring the hats. So I Went to sell the food and then I came back to the stand and the rest of the day selling the hat.

[Rich Summers]

And how old are you at this time? For context, how old are you right now?

[Alejandro Barbas]

I'm 26. But at that time I was like, it's like almost two years ago, so I was like 24.

[Rich Summers]

Damn.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, 24th.

[Rich Summers]

How much they charge you at a swap meet to get it? Because you got to pay for a booth, right?

[Alejandro Barbas]

30.

[Rich Summers]

30 bucks a day.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

Okay, there.

[Alejandro Barbas]

There is. There is a $15 stands, but the one that I used to get is a little bit more.

[Rich Summers]

And do they charge you more if you want to be in a good location?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

Versus the. In the very back?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, yeah.

[Rich Summers]

Okay.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, they had.

[Rich Summers]

How much is the best location and the best stand?

[Alejandro Barbas]

I think. I think they had like a stance of 100 bucks.

[Rich Summers]

100 bucks. Okay. Yeah, got it.

[Alejandro Barbas]

It's not that bad. I mean, you know, there is people that go and pays and they are. They have all the things that they don't want anymore. You know, there is sections for that too.

[Rich Summers]

So which swap meet where you at?

[Alejandro Barbas]

The Spring Valley.

[Rich Summers]

Spring Valley. Okay, got it.

[Alejandro Barbas]

But I went to different ones. I even went to the Santa Fe on. On near to la. I used to went like to a lot of places. So. Yeah, so the. I remember that I. That weekend I made like 300, 400 per ticket per day. Like around like 700, 800 in the. Both. Both days. But the next week, the next week I made almost 200 each. Like each day.

[Rich Summers]

Okay.

[Alejandro Barbas]

No, 2,000.

[Rich Summers]

2,000.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, each day.

[Rich Summers]

And what was, what was the biggest difference?

[Alejandro Barbas]

I don't know. I think that people that went that day, people run like the boys, like, shirt, you know, or something. I don't know what happened.

[Rich Summers]

You didn't have a better location?

[Alejandro Barbas]

No, no, no, it was the same. It was the same.

[Rich Summers]

It's just. It's just more people bought.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, yeah. And. And I feel like, I don't know, it was a day. I.

[Rich Summers]

Maybe it's the same exact hats you bought. The same.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. No, no. I don't know. I don't know. But something happened. So I was like, damn, I saw. And also with the food. So I made like. I don't know, I made like 9.

[Rich Summers]

9,000 in the weekend.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, it was crazy. But that day it was like there was like, I don't know, like an event or something. But there was a lot of people.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah.

[Alejandro Barbas]

And I'm good to sell, so.

[Rich Summers]

And sometimes when. I always say, like, when. When there's a lot of demand for something. More people want it. So, like, I mean, people probably walk by and I see a lot of people are buying hats. They're all congregated at your booth, and more people are like, hey, I got to see what's going on. Yeah, what's the hype about?

[Alejandro Barbas]

At some point, I remember that it was like, a lot. A lot of people. Like, a lot of people on the. On the booth. And. And also I remember that that day I print. I learned in one. In like, one day, I learned how to screen printing. And I print the logo on. On boxes, on white boxes, and I print the logo on boxes. I made some stickers and. And the people likes that. Like, I was telling them, like, hey, look, this is my brand. The logo is based on me, like these, like that, blah, blah, blah. And I remember that I made a little good money on that.

[Rich Summers]

Damn, that's dope, too. So, so you started off the booth, then you do this second weekend doing, you know, had a $9,000 weekend. What was your thought process moving forward at that point?

[Alejandro Barbas]

That was the thing that. That was the biggest weekend that I.

[Rich Summers]

You ever had.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. Then the next few weekends that I start moving to different swam meets and everything, I keep selling hats. Like, I was selling good amount of. Of hats and money. But the thing is that at some point, I realized that I was not going to scale, you know, because I was just getting just a limited amount of people. Like, I was like a Spring Valley. Okay, let's say Spring Valley. How far is the most, like, the farthest place that people can come from? You know, like, it's not that far. Like, people. People is not going to drive one hour, two hours just to go and buy a hat from me. Right. He's like, it doesn't make sense until you are the big brand or whatever. But yeah, So I was like, I told my brother, you know what, we need to make a TikTok and we need to make an Instagram profile, and we need to start making, like, content. At that time, I remember that I was like, I don't want to do content right now. I don't feel okay. You know, it's not a good time for me to start. But. And then I realized that it's never a good time just, just. Just to start, you know, like, just do it. And then I started doing content and we start growing. We start growing. We, we. We start. I started. We started making, like, fun content about the hats and everything. Just with the iPhone. Yeah. So I started getting Followers. I remember that on the first two months I got like 30, 40K on TikTok.

[Rich Summers]

Damn.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

And. And so people will buy directly from TikTok and you link your shop or they would go to your website.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. So I made a Shopify website. I learned how to make the website. Yeah, I learned everything. I never get someone. Well, right now I have a team. Of course I have a team around like 50 people. Different people in, in Mexico, here in US I have people in China. I have people everywhere. Right.

[Rich Summers]

Hey guys, if you're looking to get

[Rich Summers (advertisement voice)]

into real estate investing, but you're like, hey, I don't have the time. But you want to participate in the passive income, the tax benefits and the wealth building my company, Summers Capital Partners with limited partners, people like yourself. And we go out and buy boutique hotels.

[Rich Summers]

We have a fund where we currently

[Rich Summers (advertisement voice)]

own five hotels and we currently have a wait list for investors to participate with us. If you want to learn more to see if this is a fit for you, you can go to summerscapital.com invest to inquire and get on our waitlist and be notified next time we have an opportunity again. SummersCapital.com/Invest.

[Rich Summers]

Now back to the show. What's your, like your, your core leadership team look like today? The, the key, the, the most important team members today. Like I understand a team of like 50 people, but the core leadership team, like right, right now, these, these people right here, of course my core, like seven or eight people.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Oh yeah, I have this, I have this like.

[Rich Summers]

But we got, you know, all of our hotels have the on site staff, the housekeepers, the front desk. We got the team of VAs. But my, my leadership team, like the core, like eight of us are all right here in the office. So like what does your core look like? Your best, your best people?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, I have basically all these people in this room.

[Rich Summers]

Okay. What's up gentlemen? Let's go baby. And what do they do?

[Alejandro Barbas]

So they are, they are like directly my assistants. Like they work on everything that I have. They work on meetings, they work on. They were almost 24 hours. If you see, they are like destroyed right now. But they, they, they hustle every single day. So my brother, he's my partner and he's the most important piece on this story. And we've been together since always. He wanted to combo. He went to another mandalo errand to me, some errands. But yeah, basically I cannot do something without his knowing. Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

What's. I'm curious. Like with partnerships, I would say the Ideal partnership is you. You partner with someone that. That has a skill set that, that you're maybe not good at. Right. And then you're good at a skill set maybe your partner is not as good at, and that's what makes a good combination. But I'm curious, like, what. What skill set does your. Your brother bring? And what skill set do you bring?

[Alejandro Barbas]

He controls me.

[Rich Summers]

He controls you?

[Alejandro Barbas]

That's the best skill that he can have.

[Rich Summers]

Okay.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. You know what I mean? He's pretty good at ideas. So. Designs. He always put ideas on designs. Basically he put the first idea and then we start working on it. So basically he made the designs. He controls my. Because I'm like, just do it. You know, like, I don't see what's going to happen. I just do it. Like, I don't think, like, I'm very, like, impossible, impulsive. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So he is the one that thinks for me, you know, like, she's like, hey, look, you can do it. But this is the good part and this is the bad part. If you want, let's go. I'm gonna go with you. That's fine. Even if it got goes wrong. And yeah, that's. That is my, you know, like. Yeah, yeah, like. Like, I don't know, like, he's the most important part for me. I wouldn't be here.

[Rich Summers]

So he comes up with all the designs? Yeah, he does.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

Okay.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Rich Summers]

And so when you come up with the. How many designs have you done?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Total ballpark, right now? 50 or 50.

[Rich Summers]

Total.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

Okay. And so when you come up with a new design, what. What's. What's the next step? Is it like, okay, we're gonna come up with a design, we're gonna. We're gonna market it, hype it up, and then we're do a drop. Is that, Is that how it works? Like, what's the strategy behind a new. A new design?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, so we made the samples. We make the samples. We make like all the strategy of marketing around the product, and then first we kind of see if people are going to like it.

[Rich Summers]

Or you test it first?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

Really? With the samples?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, with. Yeah, with the samples.

[Rich Summers]

How do you test it?

[Alejandro Barbas]

TikTok videos.

[Rich Summers]

Really? Oh, you just see if people are

[Alejandro Barbas]

like, people don't know, but. Yeah, people don't know, but I made that first before I order the hats. So I see the reactions.

[Rich Summers]

It's a video. Yeah. How long is. How long is the video?

[Alejandro Barbas]

10 seconds.

[Rich Summers]

10 seconds. Just throw some quick videos.

[Alejandro Barbas]

It's basically Just my hand showing the hat.

[Rich Summers]

And you just put some banger music on it. Yeah, got it.

[Alejandro Barbas]

And that's it.

[Rich Summers]

And then, and then does it have a call to action? Like, do you say, hey, like, comment if you like this hat? Or what do you, what do you say?

[Alejandro Barbas]

No, I like it organic. Because that's the only way that I see. Because for example, let's say that I made a video and it hits like a hundred thousand likes, a million views, and then I put another video and it gets a little bit less, or the comments are saying different stuff or I don't like it, blah, blah, blah.

[Rich Summers]

So what do you put in the caption? Like, what do you say in the caption?

[Alejandro Barbas]

I'm always like, because you want it

[Rich Summers]

to be organic and neutral. Do you put hat in the, in the captions? So that way, like, that way the algorithm knows, hey, let's push it to people that like.

[Alejandro Barbas]

And I use the hashtag the. The hats, you know, or goras in Spanish.

[Rich Summers]

Okay.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Too. So that's the only two hashtags I never missed. Hats, boras.

[Rich Summers]

And what else do you put in the caption? Anything else you say, anything on the caption.

[Alejandro Barbas]

I always put something related to the hats. Something related. Like for example, look at these hat. Or this hat is fired. Or I don't know, like, you know, something related to the hat. So that way I make sure that the caption helped me.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah.

[Alejandro Barbas]

To arrive to bro.

[Rich Summers]

It's funny you say tik tok because I, I always say because. Because what we sell is, is higher ticket, higher dollar amount. So like we have, we have investors, right? The, our minimum investment's 150k and so my investors are not on TikTok. So like I don't care if I grow on TikTok, but it's a great testing platform because the algorithm shows it to so many non followers and if the non followers engage, then it's gonna do really good on Instagram. And, and so we'll test the, the podcast over and over and over at scale on TikTok. And a, a bad, A bad podcast clip will only get like a thousand views, two thousand views, three thousand views. But a really good one could get a million. Right? But if it's good for us, like maybe 30, 40, 50k on TikTok and then we put on Instagram and then it will perform. And so we test on TikTok. Great testing platform. But I find it ironic that you guys test your hat product on TikTok. That's so that's so smart. I would have never thought about that. And so, so a bad hat design. Let's say you test the hat and you're like, hey, no one likes it. How many views will get on TikTok?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Right now my views are pretty, pretty good. So let's say that a bad hat or a bad design or something, it's going to get around 80, 60.

[Rich Summers]

Okay.

[Alejandro Barbas]

80, 80, 000.

[Rich Summers]

80, 000 views. Yeah. And then if you. It's like a banger hat idea and you're like, all right, this is the one. We gotta, we gotta, we gotta do a big drop. How many views will that.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Millions.

[Rich Summers]

Millions.

[Alejandro Barbas]

I have.

[Rich Summers]

Everyone's sharing it, saving it.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. I have tick ticks of 10, 15, 5 million.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah. And that's how you know that's the right one.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. Right now I'm at almost 800k on tick tock for my.

[Rich Summers]

Just for the hats.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Just for the hats. Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

But even, even, that said, like, even to get the 800k, when you put out a. A video, it's still showing it to like 90 something percent non followers. Yeah. So it's a good testing.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Rich Summers]

That's great testing. I would have never thought about that.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

And that a lot of the Tick Tock users, younger people, but those are probably the people buying your hats, right? 20s, 30s, you know what, even teenagers are pretty.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, It's a very. Like, I have people that. Because it's funny, but I'm like a kind of an influencer right now. So people see me on the streets and they take pictures with me and that's where I, I'm like confused because there is kids, little kids, like 10 years old, boys. And they came to me and hey, can I have a picture? Barbara's. And I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And we took a picture and I'm like, how does these kids know about me? Right.

[Rich Summers]

And Tik Tok.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Right, yeah, Tik Tok. And then comes like older, older guys, like randomly in the streets. 60 years old, men. And then he comes and parabas. Can I take a picture with you?

[Rich Summers]

Okay. So it's pretty diverse.

[Alejandro Barbas]

I'm like, yeah. I'm like, what? You know, like, I don't really know, like the range of my. But that is pretty big range of age.

[Rich Summers]

What platform are you guys selling the most from? Is it, is it your direct, your online website? Yeah, it is.

[Alejandro Barbas]

We have a Shopify website.

[Rich Summers]

What's the URL? What's www.what?

[Alejandro Barbas]

yeah, it's. It's Triple W El Barbas hats.

[Rich Summers]

Oh, Barbara hats. I love that dot com. Go, go check it out. If you listen to this pod, I'm, I'm have, I'm gonna have to pick one up for myself, man.

[Alejandro Barbas]

No, I'm gonna bring you, I'm gonna bring you some hats. I'm gonna tell Oscar to bring you hats.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, I wear hats every day, bro.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Thank you.

[Rich Summers]

I. So, so I got a, a sponsorship deal with built. Oh, okay. But they, they built more like a lower price point clothing, very basic price point. But all their stuff like these hats are like 40 bucks online. But all their stuff like their shirts, this is like very affordable shirts. These T shirts are probably 50 bucks. But I wear a lot of their stuff. But that, that's a low. They have to do a lot of volume and their margins are very small, very small margins. And now they're opening like retail stores and like, like they have one in UTC mall. They're opening retail stores and malls. But dude, their margins are like a lot thinner. So there's, they're not a lot of room for error and they gotta do big volume and, and that sort of thing. But for you, for you, you got big margins. I, I always say that's if you're gonna start business, that's the way to go. The bigger margins the better. And then when you have larger margins, you can make more mistakes and still be fine. You see what I'm saying?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, yeah.

[Rich Summers]

So I'm curious about. So, so you come up the hat idea. Your brother comes up with it and then you test it on Tik Tok. How many, how many videos do you do on TikTok for one hat to know. Okay, this is, this is the one. Or we're just going to nix it.

[Alejandro Barbas]

So we just made like three to five videos and we decide and we start running.

[Rich Summers]

And that's all based on how that performs. You either say yes or no.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

And if it's a no. If it's a no, you just move on.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. Or we order just let's say a thousand pieces, five thousand, ten thousand depending. And from the ones that we think that is gonna be the bigger one, the, the biggest sell. We order. I don't know, 50, 000.

[Rich Summers]

Okay, okay, like different. But you don't, you don't do like, because you know, like Louis Vuitton and, and somebody's like higher end companies even like, like, like Dolce Gabbana. Right. Like even somebody's like higher end clothing brands, they'll be like, hey, we're doing Limited edition. We're only going to do 100 of these.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Oh, yeah.

[Rich Summers]

And then they sell them for some crazy amount of money. Right. Because scarcity.

[Alejandro Barbas]

We do that. We do that.

[Rich Summers]

So you do that too sometimes. Yeah. But how do you determine, okay, we're going to do 10,000 or you said 5,000. Sometimes. Sometimes it's like 500. How do you determine how many you're going to make?

[Alejandro Barbas]

So the, the lowest amount of hats that we made, and we put numbers on them is a thousand pieces.

[Rich Summers]

Oh, you'll say this is number one.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Exactly, exactly. They have the numbers inside the hat.

[Rich Summers]

Oh, that's pretty dope.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. So we started the first time that we made that. I started with a hundred pieces, 100 pieces numbered one to 100. And we sell. We sold them for 160 bucks. Nobody bought it.

[Rich Summers]

Nobody bought it?

[Alejandro Barbas]

No.

[Rich Summers]

Did you test it on Tick Tock first?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. But they, they were like, what, who do you think you are, Amiri or what? Who do you think you are, Gucci or what? And they basically insult me a lot. So. But I was like, look, this first time maybe didn't work, but it's going to work. I know it's going to work.

[Rich Summers]

And then how come that one didn't work? Looking back now.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. So what happens? That's where marketing is the key for everything. Right. What happens is that the same hat that I didn't sold, I sold only like 12 pieces from the. A hundred pieces. And that the same hat. Nathaniel Cano, the artist, the Mexican artist, Word, wore the hat on a concert. Every single person were talking about the hat at that moment. So I end selling the same. The rest of the hats. The other 78 hats, I sold them.

[Rich Summers]

You sold them.

[Alejandro Barbas]

But I didn't sold them for 160.

[Rich Summers]

How much?

[Alejandro Barbas]

I sold them for 500 bucks. And right now the same ones, the hundred numbers numbered once. They are selling them on the market. On the, on the Hispanic market, they are selling them for 30,000 pesos, which is how much? 1500 bucks. Yeah. Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

That's crazy.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. And they keep it like, like a jewelry, like a jewel, you know, like, like this.

[Rich Summers]

They don't wear it. They just.

[Alejandro Barbas]

No, they don't wear. It's a collection. It's a collection.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Alejandro Barbas]

So right now we made collections of thousand hats and for 500 bucks. And we sold those thousand. We sold them in like less than a minute.

[Rich Summers]

Damn.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Like that.

[Rich Summers]

Damn.

[Alejandro Barbas]

That. The first ones.

[Rich Summers]

So like you mentioned having this artist where you're at. Are you doing a Lot of partnering with. With other artists and bigger name people.

[Alejandro Barbas]

I do collapse. Yeah. I. The biggest one that I made is the most recently one with Nathan Elcano. He's a Mexican artist.

[Rich Summers]

Okay.

[Alejandro Barbas]

And we sold. In less than 25 minutes, we sold over 4 million. Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

$4 million in 25 minutes.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

Online.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

And that's just a drop. Collab.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

Damn. What's the artist's name again?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Nathaniel Canoe.

[Rich Summers]

Gotcha.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

And he. He does what kind of music?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, he's corrido. Mexican. Regional. Regional. The regional industry.

[Rich Summers]

Damn.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

That's huge. How do you market that kind of drop? Like, what's the. What's the. What's the. How do you build up a lot of hype for a drop like that?

[Alejandro Barbas]

So right now, I always say that I don't. I don't sell hats. I sell lifestyle. I sell lifestyle. I sell my story. Right. I sell what. What it takes to do something big. Right? And people. Doesn't work just a simple hat. They were. They were my feelings. They were, you know, like the story, basically. So I joined this artist and we start making content together. Like if I was an artist too. So people likes that, you know? Like, people is like, oh, damn. You know, that's. That's. That's cool because, like, Nathan Elcano is the biggest artist in Mexico right now at this moment. And people to see a guy that used to be homeless, that used to be selling the hats on the swap meet, and now, you know, hanging out with the biggest artists on. In Mexico and doing business together, and it's pretty dope, you know, And. And also the design's pretty good, you know, like, it's something that people just, like, you know, wow.

[Rich Summers]

Like, it's crazy, you know, it's so dope, man. And like, I. I think about this. I mean, even. Even with my story, you know, I was hanging on the boat this. This weekend. I'm thinking, like, man, like, you know, I always say, like, this.

[Alejandro Barbas]

This is.

[Rich Summers]

This lifestyle is like, this is new for me. And, you know, I never had all this stuff. It was. It was not that long ago where I was working full time as an air traffic controller, as a government employee, living paycheck to paycheck. And. And then over the last six years, I've been able to build this. But like, for you, bro, it. It. This happened even quicker and even at a much larger scale. I mean, you talk about going from living homeless not that long ago. What year were you living homeless in the car?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Like, two years ago.

[Rich Summers]

Two years ago. Yeah. And then now you built this business that's doing 60 million a year. You're getting all these views online. People are coming, taking photos with you. You're collabing with all these biggest musicians and artists, and everyone knows who you are. You got, you know, 10, you know, exotic cars and like, you're just now getting warmed up and it's just the beginning. That's. That's a hell of a freaking turnaround, bro. Like, what is that when you look back at that? What's your. What's your biggest takeaway or learning lesson so that you could share with the folks?

[Alejandro Barbas]

The, The. Because. So, I mean, like, it's crazy, brother. I don't even realize how big this turn on the past few months, you know, Like, I don't even realize, like, it's. It's for. For me. And the thing is that I have even some photos that I can show you later, but I have a very poor story from Mexico. I used to live on a very bad situation in Mexico, so I used to live on a very bad situation in Mexico. And then I came here and I used to live on a very bad situation here too. So having all those and then being on living the life that I'm living right now, it feels like it's like a movie, you know. So what I try.

[Rich Summers]

It is a movie.

[Alejandro Barbas]

It is.

[Rich Summers]

You're the main character.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. And what I do to say, like, thanks to the universe, because I chose like a lot on God and the universe and everything that puts you on a situation. Right. I give away like a lot of money. I just.

[Rich Summers]

You don't find.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, I just find people on the streets or whatever. The other day I went to Mexico and I found a lady that was with her children and I gave her like 5k just like that, you know, like, because I feel like it's weird the way that God is helping like my family and me. Right. So that's the way that I kind of put my feet on the floor. Right. And. And. And say, you know what? Like, I don't know why I'm here,

[Rich Summers]

but it's, you know, share a little bit of a.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Right. That. That's the way that I like, kind of put myself into a good place or like a pace. Peaceful. Peaceful place, you know, like sharing what I have to.

[Rich Summers]

What would you say to someone listening to this. This show right now that maybe feel stuck? They feel like they're behind because we. We go on social media and we. We start seeing all the successful. All everyone's posting their Wins and, and someone that maybe feels behind right now, they feel stuck.

[Alejandro Barbas]

They.

[Rich Summers]

They don't. They're not growing and they, they need to make a move, but they're getting a little bit discouraged. What would you say to that person?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Is, is. Is. Is going to. I'm going to say something that is sharing how I used to feel and how I feel right now. At some point. I feel that at some point every single stuff that I used to touch I converted into shit. Like if I. If I was trying to make a business, not like, no working. If I was trying to help on something, someone not working. Every single thing that I used to touch converted into nothing. And now every single thing that I make, every single business, I have a random idea on the restroom and I make it works. Everything I convert, I convert everything now into a gold. But the thing is that I have to pass through all these situations where everything was bad and I try again and didn't work and I tried again and it didn't work. So I need to marry like that to convert it within to gold, you know?

[Rich Summers]

Yeah. So all the failures where you got knocked down, you fell down, you had to get back up and then you got knocked down again, you get to get back up and then get knocked down, got back up, you're saying like that was all. That was all part of the journey. It was all part of the process. It had to happen in order for you to get to where you are

[Alejandro Barbas]

100 because you learn more. And also there is something that not a lot of people talk about it, but when you get money, like the amount of money that I'm getting right now, I know people that could lose their mind for just 1% of the money that I have right now. So you have to pass through all these bad moments to appreciate and keep your mind where it has to be when you get there. Right. Because it's not only right now I have. My life is like good, you know, like I don't need to earn more money, but the thing is that I earn more money and I'm going to earn more money because right now more people is getting like the benefit with me too. Right. So it's about that, like you pass through all these bad moments, but when you get to this, you now you have like how to deal with it and also how to help others with. With what you have with the knowledge that you have with the money that you have. Right. So 100% you need to pass through those moments. And if you are thinking to give up if you are passing through a very, very bad moment right now, man. I'm going to say don't give up because maybe you are closer than you think. Than you think.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah. And I would say, like, most people give up when, when life gets heavy, things get uncomfortable, things get overwhelming. They'll give up because we're conditioned from a young age, like, to not like, you know, being overwhelmed, uncomfortable. But what, what I've kind of learned is that life gets uncomfortable. Life gets overwhelming. Life gets heavy right before the level up. And usually if you just push through and push through and push through, eventually you're going to pop out the other side, reach a new level, and you'll be like, damn, a whole new door unlocks, a whole new opportunity unlocks, and it opens. And, and I also say, like, happiness stems from growth and progress.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, of course.

[Rich Summers]

And nothing good in life comes easy. Yeah, of course. No, no, even, even, like, not just making money or starting a business and all that. It's even relationships, you know, you know, getting married. I've never been married, but like, I just, I just went through a breakup not that long ago. And you know, like, eventually you meet that person, the love of your life, the woman of your dreams, or maybe the man of your dreams, depending on, on, on who's listening to this. But you, you might have to go through a lot of bad relationships to meet that one person. Or like getting in shape, fitness, like. Yeah, it's not easy. Like getting in shape, you know, going to the gym and like dieting and all that. It's not easy, you know, and so nothing good in life comes easy, but, but it's definitely well worth it when you get to that.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Of course I, I feel like life is about to learn. Right. And for example, I don't consider failures. I consider like lessons for me, all the things that I happen, that, that, that I, you know, that happens to me. I consider them like their lessons. So I feel like I, I will keep learning. To be honest, I don't know what's going to happen in the next few years. I know that I going to be hustling for sure, but things going to happen and I'm going to, you know, I'm going to take them and take the best of them and, and keep going, you know, because even when you have money, something happens later or whatever. So let's say that lesson is gonna be there. The lesson is gonna be there for the rest of your life. So it's keep learning and keep pushing, you know?

[Rich Summers]

Yeah. Right now you got a lot of momentum. And I always say, like, it's like, it's almost like a. A hockey stick. So, like, a hockey stick is like, kind of shaped like this. So it's like at first you, like, start it and you're like growing a little bit, but then you get knocked down, grow a little bit, but eventually you hit this point and then you start going straight up. And so, like, right now you're like, at this point where you're starting to really go straight up. And so you just got to ride with it and roll with it. But. But I'm curious, like, what, what's. What's next for you as you kind of look out of these next 12, 18 months? What. What's the. What's the next level for you?

[Alejandro Barbas]

The next level will be right now. We are one of the most hyped brands on Mexico and Latin America. So on the spanning market, we are doing, like, pretty. Pretty good, to be honest. So right now I'm going to move with the rest of the niches, like, you know, different. Different niche that I have to conquer because they don't know me. Right. For example, this is the first time that I do something in English. I never speak in English. Even in my videos. I always in Spanish. So I. I want to get out of my comfort zone right now and I want to go for. For different niche, get in front of new.

[Rich Summers]

New audiences.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, new audiences, right?

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, that's. That's good. That's big. I'm curious. How do you. How do you collab with, like, how do you approach a collab? Let's say there's specific artists or a specific person you want to collab with. How do you approach that person?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Well, at the beginning, it was. It was very hard because when you start in a brand and that's something that maybe is going to help people to understand when you're starting a brand, no one is going to. No one going to want to collab with you. Like, no artist, no, nobody. Even when you have the money, sometimes it's not about the money. It's about the money and about the prestige or what you're gonna put on the name of the artist. Right? So right now, at this point, the artists, they look for me, they called me or they hit me up on Instagram.

[Rich Summers]

Right now they're coming to you.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. Right now we have an upcoming collaboration on. On October, we're gonna be at Complex. We're gonna be at Complex. Complex. Come in Vegas. And I gonna. I'm gonna try to show on live how A drop works for me. So people that don't know me, they're gonna be able to see what I do, and they're gonna see the products and everything on life. And I'm gonna do a collab with Anuel, he's a reggaeton artist. And. And so that collab basically happens because Natana Elcano, Anuel was on the house of Nathan Elcano and Nathaniel Cano see me and see the Noel. And he was like make business. So, yeah, you know, like, things right now, things just happen, like organically.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, right. Have you ever partnered with like a bigger name professional athlete?

[Alejandro Barbas]

No, never.

[Rich Summers]

Well, like an NBA player, you know,

[Alejandro Barbas]

that will be, that will be super cool. I will be down to do something like that for sure. Right now. I made. The only artist that I made different artists is Rich the kid. You know, that reach the kid, he's a rap singer and, and I made a collab with him. And now someone is getting me, Giorbunta Davis to make a collab with him.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, so Avante Davis, the football player?

[Alejandro Barbas]

No, the. The boxer.

[Rich Summers]

Got it.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, Boxer, Yeah, got it. So, yeah, definitely, I think that.

[Rich Summers]

What about Ryan Garcia Boxer? That'll be a good.

[Alejandro Barbas]

That will be. Yeah, that will be a good name. I. I don't know how to get to him, but that would be cool.

[Rich Summers]

He follows me on Instagram. I met him. I could, I could. I want to get him on a podcast too.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Oh, okay.

[Rich Summers]

So maybe I can. I can connect you guys.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, let's do, let's do a clip. This clip. Ryan, if you look. Have you. If you see in this clip. Hey, let's do something.

[Rich Summers]

There you go. There you go.

[Alejandro Barbas]

No, yeah, of course. I think, I think that that can take us to different market or different audience. Yeah, collapse.

[Rich Summers]

Totally.

[Alejandro Barbas]

For sure.

[Rich Summers]

Totally. We got to get you in the yacht game too, bro. Yeah, we gotta get you in the yacht game. Of course the car game is cool, but the yacht game is like, it's a whole different, like, room. It's a whole different networking opportunity, but, you know, you already got all the cars, so it's like, what's the next level? Yeah, go get a nice yacht, bro. Because then you could use that as a platform also to start attracting like, like bigger name folks to collab with.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, of course.

[Rich Summers]

And you guys can do your, your drop party on the yacht.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, that will be, you know, super fun. Yeah, it's super fun.

[Rich Summers]

So I want to dive back into the, the, the drop thing because this is kind of a unique thing for me. So you've made $1.3 million in three minutes?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Oh, yeah.

[Rich Summers]

With an online party. You did a live stream party and you did $1.3 million in, in three minutes?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

How did you do that?

[Alejandro Barbas]

It was funny and super crazy. So I was with my brother one day, I was with my brother and then I told him, you know what, for this next drop, because we had the name. We had Nathanael Kano name, right? Which is a big, big name. And that's cool. But I mean, like, he's an artist, but also from the brand. You have to put effort on what you're doing so you can really get the name into it. You know, you really, really, really make your. Your part and make it bigger. Bigger. So I was, I was telling my brother, what if we make a party, like a release party and just to announce the drop and everything? And what if we open the website like randomly, like in the, in the, in the stream? Like I used to, like, you know what, I'm gonna open the website and ra. You just have five minutes. You just have five minutes or ten minutes or whatever. And then I told him, like, you know what, I'm gonna get artists to, to play on the, on the stream. Let's get streamers, like everything. And, and I remember that I make like a couple of streamers. I, I put together one stream that used to be on Mexico all the time and one stream that is from here, from us. So I made like they joined, you know, two artists. Yeah, like streamers, like, like kick streamers, like Twitch streamers. And I put them together, right? And then I, I get artists to play on the, on the stream. And so basically what I meant, it was like the streaming got to 100,000 viewers on Life.

[Rich Summers]

Okay, so that's a lot on live.

[Alejandro Barbas]

That's a lot of people, right? And then we were doing the party and everything.

[Rich Summers]

And what platform primarily Was this on? YouTube.

[Alejandro Barbas]

No, kick and Twitch.

[Rich Summers]

Kick and Twitch. Okay.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Both are streaming platforms.

[Rich Summers]

Got it.

[Alejandro Barbas]

And then I was on the middle of the stream, very hype up, like it was more than 100,000 viewers, for sure. I remember that one of those guys has 90 something and the other one has like 40. So it was more, more than a thousand viewers, I remember. And then I was like, you know what? Let's open the website in front of all these people and let's let. I want to open the website. I want to go crazy. Just five minutes, ten minutes, just go, go and get your stuff. And I opened the website and within three minutes we get to $1.3 million.

[Rich Summers]

Damn.

[Alejandro Barbas]

The, the website like crash. Like really? Yeah, like I was trying to refresh in the second minute I was trying to refresh and nothing appears. Nothing appears. I was like, oh, that something happens, right? And on the third minute, I do it like I scroll down. Boom. 1.1.27 something.

[Rich Summers]

Damn. Yeah, like, and then the website just. That was it.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, yeah, it went out.

[Rich Summers]

If the, if the website stayed up, you guys could have done a lot more, huh?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

That's crazy.

[Alejandro Barbas]

And I, and I, I closed the website because I was like, no, this is, this is like crazy, right? Like I have. It was like an early access just for, for people to make sure that they can get their.

[Rich Summers]

And this is good for a big drop you're doing. This was like an exclusive early, early access. How much did you sell that half for?

[Alejandro Barbas]

We sold four different designs, not five different designs. One of those was the 1,000 units. US$500 per unit. So we sold out that on the, on the streaming. We sold out the, the a thousand units and then we made another four designs and the cheapest one was like 70 and the expensive one was 130.

[Rich Summers]

Got it. Got it.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah. That's big, dude. When you, when you do these, the drops. So I'm just trying to think big picture for someone listening to this. It's like, okay, that you got the design. Then after that you're doing the, the testing on Tick Tock. If that goes well, then you're gonna, you're gonna do some sort of drop. And then do you do a lot of marketing leading up to the drop?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, we put a lot of marketing.

[Rich Summers]

A lot of marketing.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, we give away cars with.

[Rich Summers]

You give away cars?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

How do you do that promo?

[Alejandro Barbas]

The last drop. The last drop. We. So our hats, you can scan our hats to verify that they are real. Right. Or original merchandise. And then when people try to rip off your hats, they already do it.

[Rich Summers]

Really?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, they already do it. Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

That's how you know you made it. People trying to rip your.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Right. Yeah, that's what I'm saying, what I say. So yeah, basically you can scan them and see that they are og, right? And then when you scan them for disrupt, we made one scan for. For example, one design is going to have a G Wagon, G63 G Wagon and other hat has a trip to Japan, everything paid. Another one has a real. Because we have hats that we put gold plated metals on them. Pins. Gold plated pins. Right. And we have one that we're gonna give to the people. But this real gold in diamonds they had has real gold and diamonds. And then we have. What was the other price? What three. Oh, motocross.

[Rich Summers]

Motocross, yeah. Okay.

[Alejandro Barbas]

A bike.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Alejandro Barbas]

So we mail these four prices for the people and I don't have winners yet because we just, we just end shipping out all the hats and, and we're waiting just to see who, who won the prices. Yeah, I think we already have someone for the dirty bike.

[Rich Summers]

Okay. Yeah, that's pretty dope.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

So with the G Wagon, how many people are going to enter to win that?

[Alejandro Barbas]

There is one. Yeah, there is one that you're going to scan it and you're going to appear on the app and appear you, you want.

[Rich Summers]

Got it.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Because we have an app, an application and.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, yeah, got it. And they got to, they got to buy a specific hat for. That one is like a special limited edition.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Okay, got it. The one that we have one that has three crosses, but it metal pin with crosses and rhinestones.

[Rich Summers]

And how many did you make of those?

[Alejandro Barbas]

I don't really.

[Rich Summers]

That one you got to almost make more, right?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, exactly, exactly. Because

[Rich Summers]

yeah, but more people are going to buy it just because they know they could potentially win.

[Alejandro Barbas]

No, a lot of people about.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah. That hat you think the giveaway is, is more successful than, than doing like a, a big collab for the drop?

[Alejandro Barbas]

You know what? That I don't really make the promo around the giveaways that I make. I really do it because I feel like my people deserve it. Right. So I don't really put promo in it. I don't really, you know, I, I, I really put marketing it. I don't know. It's kind of weird the way that I work, but because the marketing is, is me explaining things, you know, like explaining the hat is for example, for this upcoming drop, we, we doing like a kind of like a serial, like a rally or like. Yeah, like a serial where every single video is an episode. So I'm showing the people on that Syria that how is to launch a drop with me, you know, like the process and everything. We made a video that I'm explaining basically the dynamic the way that we're going to do the drop. That video got almost 800,000 views on Tik Tok. So people likes, you know, like, they like to see how the business works, basically.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, totally. And you're giving a story for each hat? Yeah, yeah. Dude, the, the hat you got on right now looks dope, man. It's got all the Diamonds in it. It's got the black, it's got the gold. And then you got the buttons on it.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

What do you call those up top?

[Alejandro Barbas]

Oh, this. The top one is like a star. Is a metallic top bottom, but it has like a 3D star.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, I like it, man. It's swaggy. It's got a little swag to it.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, yeah. We like to do things that you can combine with a cool outfit or whatever.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah. So I know that you're into the watch game. Yeah, I know you're into the watch game. You were showing me a Richard Mille watch before we started recording. That's worth a million.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

What was the most you've ever spent on a watch?

[Alejandro Barbas]

I got a watch like a month or two months ago. It's a richer mille.

[Rich Summers]

How much?

[Alejandro Barbas]

This. Call that one cost me 3 million.

[Rich Summers]

$3 million.

[Alejandro Barbas]

3 million.

[Rich Summers]

Damn. What kind of watch is that? What's the name of it?

[Alejandro Barbas]

It's a Richard Mills call that one. There is only six pieces in the world and they already. I. I don't know where is one, but the other ones are. Post Malone has one. Post Malone, Sylvester Stallone, Canelo, the boxer. Far Williams.

[Rich Summers]

Damn.

[Alejandro Barbas]

And I don't know the other guy because. Oh, I don't know if he's on sale. I don't know. And then Barbas.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, that puts you in the room, though. Yeah, that puts you in the room.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah.

[Rich Summers]

Maybe you. Maybe you do a collab with one of those names next.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, yeah, probably.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, dude, With. With those types of watches. Like with that one that you bought. You just dropped 3 mil with that watch. Do you. Do you wear it? Yeah, wear it. You wear it.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, of course. I is like, for example, the cars, right? Like, obviously, for example, the McLaren Senna. It has only like 200 miles or something like that. I'm going to drive it. Because the thing is that I use them for videos too. Is marketing purposes too, Right. I use them for videos. I show the watches. I have like a serial that I made with my watch dealer where we make videos when I. When I buy the watches. Right.

[Rich Summers]

Oh, really?

[Alejandro Barbas]

They. Those videos get like 14 million views.

[Rich Summers]

Damn. On TikTok.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, like a lot of views. A lot of views. So I'm. I'm getting. I'm getting known for. For the watches too, so. And the cars and every. Everything give a little plus on what you're doing.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah.

[Alejandro Barbas]

So that's what I'm like. I'm gonna drive them. I'm gonna use them at the end of the day, they, they.

[Rich Summers]

It's almost like an investment. Yeah, exactly, because, you know, you, you go get that nice thing or you go spend up to get the nice thing. It's like, well, one, you're, you're gonna make more money as a, as a product of it. It's going to change your perspective, and then you're gonna, you're getting a lot more views on social media because of that's, that's free marketing.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Right.

[Rich Summers]

And then you make more money as a function of it. Also, it will, it will level up your network too, you know, gets you into different rooms as a conversation starter. So I think a lot of these luxuries that a lot of people think is like, oh, it's a waste of money. It's like, no, actually, it's an investment. There's an ROI on it if you, if you do it the right way.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, of course.

[Rich Summers]

That's what a lot of people don't, don't realize.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah, no, I use them as a, basically as a marketing. You know, I use them for, for, for sell my character to, you know, like, it's an investment for sure. And I don't see an investment where I say, like, if one day I sell them, I don't even think I'm selling them, to be honest. And not even the cars, to be honest, if I sell them is just because I traded for another expensive one.

[Rich Summers]

Sure.

[Alejandro Barbas]

You know, so I, I, I see my, my stuff, I see them just like for marketing purposes or, or, you know, like, because at the end of the day, everybody wants a Lambo, everybody wants a watch, you know, like, it's just cool things, you know?

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Alejandro Barbas]

And it's, it's pretty cool to show the people how to get them too.

[Rich Summers]

Yeah, 100%. My man, Barbara. Dude, I appreciate you coming on the show, brother. It's been a pleasure. It's been an honor hanging out and rapping with you dudes. Inspiring, inspiring story. And we definitely got to connect. We'll get you out on the boat. We got to get in the yacht game at some point. I got to get in the hat game and suggest all listeners go check it out. Go check out my man, Alejandro Barbara. What's, what's the website where they can get in touch and buy a hat

[Alejandro Barbas]

is Triple W that El Barbas hats that come.

[Rich Summers]

Okay. And then where can the folks get in touch with you? They want to follow you on social media, all that.

[Alejandro Barbas]

Yeah. On Instagram, I appears like, soy el barbas hats. That's my personal one. And my brand is El Barbiz Hats Official.

[Rich Summers]

There it is. He's my man. El Barbas. Alejandro, also known as Barbas. I appreciate you coming on the show, my man. I'm Rich Summers, listeners. Thanks for tuning in. We'll see you guys in the next one. Peace.